Anarchy: a journal of desire armed. #36, Spring 1993 anticopyright - Anarchy may be reprinted at will for non-profit purposes, except in the case of individual copyrighted contributions. OPENERS -includes (Dis)contents, Inside Anarchy by Jason McQuinn, and Support the Anarchist Press. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ DISCONTENTS __Essays__ Roles By Raoul Vaneigem Bisexuality Review by Michael William Life in Revolutionary Barcelona, Part 2 By Manolo Gonzalez The Fall of Communism, the Society of the Spectacle and Prostitution By Peter S. Barker __Departments__ Openers Inside Anarchy Support the Anarchist Press! The Sad Truth Out of Control Rap Cops Holes in Condom Theory Alternative Media Review Alternative Press Review Encyclopedia of the American Left Alternative Press Books Anarchist Press Review On Gogol Boulevard International Anarchist News They have Taken the Walls Latin American Contacts The Anarchist Scene Columns The Iconoclast's Hammer: Some not Completely Aimless Meanderings Schiz-Flux: The Movement of Schiz-Flux On Virtual Reality Commentary by Bob Brubaker Travelling Autonomous Zone Letters @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ INSIDE ANARCHY Welcome to the Spring '93 issue of Anarchy. Although we had no spe- cific theme in mind for this issue, we seem to have ended up with a fuzzy theme of sorts anyway. There seems to be no simple way to express the thread of similarity, but each of our four feature essays serves to situate types of personal experience in a social- historical context. Raoul Vaneigem gives us the most incisive description of "The Role" I've encountered. For Vaneigem, the role is a consumption of power which situates every consumer/spectator within the hierarchies of the spectacular organization of appear- ances. Michael William presents an overview of the current controversies over bisexuality. He situates this ambiguous sexuality -- which confutes the simple essentialist dichotomy of hetero and homosex -- in relation to the conflicting currents of the contemporary gay and feminist milieux. Manolo Gonzalez returns with the second and final part of his revealing description of "Life in Revolutionary Barcelona" from his personal perspective as a young child in the 1930s. And Peter S. Barker contributes a diary of his thoughts on personal experience in relation to the mass media in "The Fall of Communism, the Society of the Spectacle, and Prostitution." The striking front cover collage for this issue was provided by graphic artist Damon Voteur, while contributing artist Freddie Baer provided the back cover collage. This is the fourth issue published in our new magazine format and the second issue with a full-color cover. Response has been very positive, although we've heard a few grumbles of discontent about the cover paper. Due to the increased demand, we're printing 6,500 copies of this issue. Perhaps we could aim for 10,000 copies by next year? Wouldn't it be fun to have an anarchist magazine rivalling some of the more mainstream `alterna- tive' mags in circulation? Maybe it will never happen, but it can't hurt to try! Space crunch As our circulation has grown, we seem to be suffering from an increasingly severe backlog in our letters column. This has often been a problem for us, but even with the 50% larger space given over to letters in this issue we've only managed to keep up the same late pace we've maintained for the last few issues. Readers' letters have always been a very popular section in Anarchy, but the more letters we publish the less space is left for our other departments and features. Let us know how you feel about this situation. What kind of balance should we seek? Next issues Our Summer 1993 issue will probably be organized around the themes of racism, fascism and nationalism. We are still encouraging sub- missions on this theme (final deadline is April 15th), though, as always, we cannot guarantee that everything submitted will make it into print. There is also a possibility that the Fall issue will focus on the theme of the critique of ideology & morality. We're also looking for submissions on this subject. At this point other suggestions for future issues still include "Anarchy & Violence," "Anti-organization," "Libertarian Education," "Anti-technology," "Psychiatry/Mental Illness," "Transportation," "False Opposition," "Individualism," "Free market anarchism," "Communes & Co-ops," "Rent Refusal" and "Prison Abolition." We'd be happy to consider submissions concerning any of these subjects and more, but remember, without submissions on these topics we won't be able to conjure up a theme issue out of thin air! Other news Those who contributed to our laser printer fund last year should know that we are in the process of purchasing one which will be used in the production of upcoming issues. This purchase has been temporarily delayed by our work on a new production space which is now approaching completion. Many thanks to all who contributed! -Jason McQuinn @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Sustaining Contributors Thanks for your support! Our current list of sustainers include: J.M., T.O., S.H., E.F. & C.A. of Columbia, MO.; A.H. of New Braunfels, TX.; A.G. of Paris, France; L.A. of Chicago, IL.; P.K. of San Francisco, CA.; T.D. of Manhattan Beach, CA.; J.J. of Union City, CA.; C.R. of Glenolden, PA.; K.M. of Oakland, CA.; R.S. of St. Louis, MO.; B.K. of Canoga Park, CA.; S.6 of Darwin, Australia; M.E. & N.B. of New York, NY.; R.C. of Boulder, CO.; J.M. & M.W. of Montr‚al, Qu‚bec; R.R. of Grove City, OH.; J.A. of Portland, OR.; N.N. of Gilroy, CA.; C.M. of Knoxville, TN.; J.V. of Desert Hot Springs, CA.; and A.A. of Newark, DE. More thanks to all of you for your extra support! With- out it we'd be hard pressed to continue publication in our current form. Sustaining contributors to Anarchy donate $60 to $120 per year -- which includes a First Class subscription! We can always use more support! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ SUPPORT THE ANARCHIST PRESS! After a century and more of repression, isolation and defeats, the anarchist milieu in North America has grown used to settling for minority status among radical movements. Yet with the defeat of Soviet Marxism, the deterioration of Chinese Marxism, and the total sell-out of socialists and social democracy worldwide, the opportunity has returned for anarchists to participate in the reinvention of a new radical social upsurge based upon direct action, mutual aid and a strongly anarchic vision. An integral part of this process must be the reinvention of the anarchist press. The ferment in anarchist media in the English- speaking world these last few years has already contributed to a practical self-critique of the traditional anarchist press. New zines appear monthly. Anarchic graphic artists have become more creative and more prolific. Editorial policies are opening up a bit more. And contributors are becoming less timid, more anxious to tackle important questions. And, of course, it hasn't hurt that it has become easier to publish given the changes in print technologies in the last decade (which doesn't, however, affect the overall validity of the anti-tech. critique). What has most been lacking so far are three things: practical mutual aid between anar- chist media projects, a more outward looking approach, and more substantial support from the anti-authoritarian milieu in general. 1. WHERE IS THE SOLIDARITY AND MUTUAL AID BETWEEN ANARCHIST MEDIA PROJECTS? Despite the natural feeling at times that there are many, many anarchist publications all competing for the same small pool of active anarchist readers, such a view is short-sighted at best and self-defeating at worst. Defensiveness (worries about some publica- tions encroaching upon another publication's territory) is hardly necessary when anarchist periodicals currently only reach a tiny fraction of the North American population as a whole. For that matter we hardly even reach a fraction of the population already engaged in some sort of (at least self-defined) opposition to capital and state. There is plenty of room for any competently produced anarchist periodical to grow right now. And we ought to be helping each other out more in order to take advantage of the historical opportunities now begging for a little risk taking. This isn't to say that we should attempt to put aside all our genuine differences in order to create an artificial unity. But it does mean that we shouldn't let differences in approach, or critical attitudes toward other projects to stop us from sharing knowledge, resources, contacts and technical skills when appropriate. The spirit of mutual aid is the main reason why Anarchy has consis- tently published the list of distributors and bookstores on page 4 of each issue. (Some new publications, not always anarchist, have used these lists to great advantage.) The spirit of mutual aid underlies our ongoing commitment to developing an Anarchist Media Network (see the notice on page 8)þwhich has so far, unfortunately, been a lost cause due to a close to complete lack of interest from other media projects. And the spirit of mutual aid has permeated our "Anarchist press review" columns in each issue. We may not agree with everything other publications print (hell, we don't all agree on everything we print), but we want everyone to have an opportunity to find out for themselves what is out there and make use of it. 2. WHY ISN'T THE ANARCHIST PRESS LOOKING OUTWARD MORE OF THE TIME? One of the most consistent complaints we all hear about anarchist publications in general is that they are more concerned with internal conflicts, with repetitive self-definition, and with ex- cluding out-groups than with communicating to new people who might be open to libertarian perspectives if they ever encountered them. Whether through laziness, through adherence to rigid principle, or just through lack of thought about how to do things differently, too many anarchist projects still overlook or ignore possibilities for outreach to new readers. Anarchy has made a consistent, if not always successful, attempt to reach outward rather than always looking inward, with our strong commitment to advertising in the wider alternative press (most often in Utne Reader and occasionally in Mother Jones, The Nation, The Progressive, etc.). We've also attempted to avoid overly academic, overly polemical and overly specialized articles. And we've mounted a real effort to make Anar- chy more attractive, diverse and appealing, while maintaining moderately high standards for coherence, intelligence and creativity in the articles we publish. We make our extra stocks of back issues available at the cost of postage for free distribution by other groups to help with their own local outreach. And we're always interested in getting Anarchy magazine into new bookstores and onto new newsstands. As a result, you'll probably find Anarchy sold in more different places right now than any other North American anarchist publication. 3. WHY ISN'T THERE MORE SUPPORT FOR THE ANARCHIST PRESS FROM WITHIN THE ANARCHIST MILIEU? As one look at the all but unedited letters column in any issue of Anarchy will show, there is a lot of unfocussed anger, confusion and naivet‚ in the anti-authoritarian milieu. We expect libertarian radicals to be critical and self-critical, yet what too often results is an aggressive posturing bordering on the abusive and self-abusive. A certain amount of skepticism and cynicism have their places, but misogyny and misanthropy, moralism, narrow- mindedness and even cruelty also seem to abound. There is something to be said for maintaining a somewhat higher standard of civility in the anarchist milieu than that which currently maintains. As the situationists have often said, "Be cruel with your past and with all who would keep you there." But don't forget to lighten up, give people the benefit of the doubt once in awhile, and enjoy the pleasures of friendship and camaraderie sometimes, too! Contempo- rary rebels are all in a real sense the fractured and demoralized products of a dysfunctional social order. But we don't need to glory in it quite so much of the time. I'd like to suggest that more of us act on the novel ideas of solidarity, mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. Perhaps they could put a little more balance into this milieu. I've been making excuses for anarchists not supporting publishing projects monetarily for the last decade, but maybe it's time for me to question this myself. My standard answer to this question has been that anarchists tend to be young and always broke. We tend to be unemployedþor not very employedþto unemployable or even inmates in prisons. And the tendency is for every active anarchist to create her/his own project which always requires more money and effort than any one person can ever give. But, of course, most of us don't meet this last description, and of the rest, there remains a hell of a lot of support that could be given that is instead recuperated by participation in unnecessary commodity exchange, in petty bickering, and in self-destructive escapes. Maybe I've been expecting too little from people in order to never be disappointed by what they give to the overall effort required to genuinely challenge our collective misery. At times in the past I've personally contributed to The Match!, Open Road, and the Fifth Estate, as well as subscribing to numerous other periodicals. Since beginning Anarchy magazine, I've put at least several thousand dollars into this project. Other partici- pants have as well. And we will continue to put energy and funds into this project and other projects. To all those who are already doing something (often already attempting too much with limited resources), I certainly appreciate your efforts. This appeal is primarily aimed towards all those more passive and less committed, but thoughtful yet unsure people who haven't really considered how important their support could be for the renewal and resurgence of an insurrectionary current based in anarchist sensibilities and autonomous action. It may sound like I'm really down on anarchists, and in a small way I am. But in general, I remain firmly committed to this milieu, since all the other social subcultures along with the mainstream culture are so much, much worse off. Why not support the anarchist press more? Why not subscribe to your five favorite zines? Why not check out a copy of all those publications you haven't yet had a chance to read? Why not write a letter, or if you're especially talented, write an essay or contribute a work of graphic art? Why not send gift subscriptions to friends and lovers? Why not distribute your favorite periodicals in your own locale? Or start your own zine? Or gather together a discussion group for reading and criticizing important articles or books? Or hold a benefit picnic or performance? Why not? There are at least hundred different approaches to supporting the anarchist press. Certainly too many to mention them all here. If you want to play this game, now is the time to make your move! Together, we can all make this world a little more interesting place to live. DEBTS THAT DON'T GET PAID DEPT. On a recent day before going to press with this issue, I checked on the state of our current financial situation. On that particular day distributors owed us $3,403 for accounts due or overdue (not counting the issues currently on account which hadn't been billed as due yet, which added up to $3093 in their own right). Obviously, if all our delinquent distributors would pay up and we had the money owed us in hand, it would mean we'd be in fine financial shape. Unfortunately, this is unlikely. The saddest thing is that many of the distributors who owe us substantial amounts of money for magazines sent on credit are supposedly anarchist projects. Yet they apparently have no intention of ever paying for the magazines that were sent to them in good faith. Distributor hall of shame Distributors who seem most unlikely to ever pay us include: @ Central (POB 20298, New York, NY. 10009), which (I'm told by Chris Flash, a participant in the @ Central project as well as publisher of The Shadow) has since it folded had fundraisers to pay off seemingly every creditor but us. @ Collective (1126 Marais, New Orleans, LA. 70116) which is listed as a member of the Love & Rage Network, but won't answer our letters and hasn't paid us since May, 1991. Ceasefire Productions (Box 29, 10024-82 Ave., Edmonton, Alberta T6E 1Z3, Canada), which took over from Honkin' Dog when it ceased distributing, but has never paid for anything we've sent. Dayton Anarchist Collective (POB 3316, Dayton, OH. 45401), which is consistently listed as a member of the Love & Rage Network, but has also consistently refused to answer any of our many requests for payment. Freddy (POB 14932, Gainesville, FL. 32604), who claims he lost his job and apparently decided to use our magazine shipments as unemployment benefits but won't say. Laughing Horse Books (1322 NW 23, Portland, OR. 97201), which used to be a friendly place when we visited several times in past years, but hasn't paid or responded to us since the end of '91. Laughing Horse still seems like one of the best possibilities for payment on this list. Librairie Alternative Bookshop (2035 St-Laurent, Montr‚al, Qu‚bec H2X 2T3, Canada), which has always had trouble paying us on time, with their last payment made in April, 1991. Primal Plunge (107 Brighton Ave., Allston, MA. 02134), which stopped paying near the end of 1990 and could be out of business by now for all we know, since it hasn't responded to us since then. Rainbow Bookshop (426 W. Gilman St., Madison, WI. 53703), which hasn't paid or responded since the end of '91. Rainbow is another bookshop I still hope to hear from. Squarehead (c/o ACT Publications & Dist., POB 84001, Trafalgar Postal Outlet, Oakville, Ontario LGH 5V7, Canada), who moved at some point without a forwarding address and has not contacted us since. I'd think twice before having any sort of dealings with these groups. If they can't carry through on their commitments to anarchist projects, and in most all cases even refuse to answer simple requests for return communication, how can they be trusted with anything else? If any readers happen to know some of the people involved with these projects, we'd appreciate it if you'd let them know we'd like to hear from them. It's possible that one or more of the projects listed has not contacted us for honestly mistaken reasons (in which case we'd be happy to apologize for their listing when communications and payments resume). However, for the most part these are the cream of the cream of hard-core stiffs.